Roadway improvements authorized at Port Newark

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey this week authorized $105 million for the design, construction and realignment of roadways in the Port Newark-Elizabeth complex in New Jersey.
The Port Street Corridor Improvements Project at the north end of the port involves work on Port, Corbin, Marlin and Kellogg streets, and Doremus Avenue, and related intersections, and the demolition and reconstruction of the Corbin Street ramp at the northern end of Port Newark.
The area carries about 65 percent of the traffic in the port and includes a 50-year-old bridge that goes over the New Jersey Turnpike and railroads leading into the port.
Richard Larrabee, the director of the Port Commerce Department of the port authority, said the project should enhance safety in an area that has had about 90 accidents in the past three years. Those accidents are not only a serious problem because of injuries and damage to cargo, but also because they tie up traffic in the port.
Port officials believe the improvements will provide truckers and other port users with approximately $63 million in time savings and reduced operating costs and $1.2 million in safety benefits over a 30-year period.
Approximately $70 million is allocated for construction and the remainder is for design, acquisition of property, acquisition of land and mitigation of wetlands.
Construction is slated to begin at the end of 2015 and be completed in 2019.
Larrabee said the project would be funded by the Port Authority’s cargo facility charge.